The Lead for Legal and Compliance at the Cyber Security Authority, Mrs Jennifer Mensah, has stated that the Authority will intensify its awareness creation across the country, targeting schools, institutions, government organizations and others.
She underscored the need for intensive sensitization in order to protect Ghanaians from fraudsters and or people who like to leak information to hurt others.
“One of the initiatives of the Authority is the licensing and accreditation and aside from that, this year, we are intensifying our awareness. We already do awareness but it will be seen more now. Everyone needs to know how to protect their phones, computers and information because sometimes if these bad people get hold of your information, they may put it out and so we are ready to educate the public to have strong passwords and they should not give their momo pin to anyone so our presence will be more visible. We are going to all the regions,” she said.
She said this in an interview with Atinka TV’s Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori.
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Mrs Jennifer Mensah warned Cybersecurity Service Providers (CSPs), Cybersecurity Establishments (CEs), and Cybersecurity Professionals (CPs) without license or accreditation to stop operating in the country or face the law when they are caught.
In 2023, the Authority issued a directive to the service providers, professionals and establishments to ensure to obtain their licenses before December 31, 2023, in order to operate lawfully in the county.
Stressing on this in an interview with Atinka TV’s Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori, Mrs Jennifer Mensah reiterated that those who do not have license will be barred from operating until they obtain the license.
“All those doing cyber security work should put in their application so that we can verify if they qualify to have a license, if not they do not qualify, they will not get it. If you want to obtain the license, visit our website, https://www.csa.gov.gh/licence. When you visit the website, we have an application portal where you can register and when you register, you will get guidelines for the application,” she said.
She continued,”What we are saying is that if you do not have the license, do not engage yourself in any cyber security work because if you do so and you are caught, you will face the law, either you are convicted or you will be made to pay a huge amount of money.”
Mrs Mensah noted that for now, those who apply for the license will be given provisional license without charges until a sister Government Agency determines the fees, adding it will also be communicated when the time comes.
She cautioned the public not to engage the services of providers, professionals or establishments without license.
“I want to advise workers, students, academic institutions and the general public that if someone does not have a license, do not employ them to provide cyber security services for you. If you want to employ someone, ask the person if he or she has a license, if he or she is a professional, ask them to show you their accreditation and if they do, you can visit our site to verify if the number is valid or not,” she said.
She continued,”The Cyber Security Authority is a friend to the public, we are here to protect you, your computer systems, we are here to protect critical information infrastructure so that everyone will be safe in the country. There are a lot of bad people so we are here to protect you.”
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